Spaced Out Ace
Well-Known Member
Watched Rocky (1976) tonight with my girlfriend. We plan to watch the rest of the Rocky films this week, and work our way through the Rambo films as well.
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Watched Rocky (1976) tonight with my girlfriend. We plan to watch the rest of the Rocky films this week, and work our way through the Rambo films as well.
it's literally just Lawrence of Arabia in SpaaaaceConsidering you said you didn't read the book in a previous post, this reaction is expected. Frank Herbert made it a point to beware all charismatic leaders, and Paul's story is not a a traditional hero's journey but one turned on its head.
When Dune Messiah comes out, you probably won't like that either, since it continues to double down on that subversion. If any consolation, JRR Tolkien didn't like Dune either.
That's the simplistic way to put it. Obvious, but of course Herbert had written Dune to be far more nuanced than just TE Lawrence meets Lesley Blanch with lots of shrooms.it's literally just Lawrence of Arabia in Spaaaace
(seriously go watch Lawrence of Arabia, Dune was heavily inspired by TE Lawrence's life).
It's definitely a simplified version of it, but the whole "he shall move and act as though he was one of us" schtick and his transition from white savior to white devil is very obvious in retrospect, as that is essentially lifted straight from Lawrence of Arabia.That's the simplistic way to put it. Obvious, but of course Herbert had written Dune to be far more nuanced than just TE Lawrence meets Lesley Blanch with lots of shrooms.
You also gotta remember that it isn't until Paul drinks the water of life that he does a pretty hard heel-turn. I remember it was discussed here pretty heavily (or maybe in the book thread?) a few months back, but in the book he's in a coma after drinking the water of life for years not days/weeks like what's portrayed in the movie, and given what the water of life does to him and shows him, it's not surprising that he plays into everything he feared. It also plays heavily on the trope of not being able to outrun your destiny.The thing about Dune 2 (spoiler alert) I don't appreciate is how the protagonist basically plays right into his own fears and premonitions of changing from noble good into a primary agent of noble cause corruption/fanaticism. Like, bro, you had one job.
Wow, I haven't heard anyone mention Mummy Returns in a long time.I saw the Mummy Returns for the first time this year. The Rock is TERRIBLE in it, but he's so bad that it's actually funny. I'm pretty sure that was his first actual movie and it shows. He figured it out pretty quickly (I remember him being pretty good already in The Rundown), but boy are his emotional displays in the opening sequence hilarious. "Oh, my whole army died and I'm left in the desert alone? That sounds like a job for MILD ANNOYANCE FACE!" And wow, was the CGI on the scorpion king hilarious. It actually looks like a PS2 cutscene, unlike most bad CGI that people describe as that.
Also the movie's incredibly loud and annoying, which is what I remember thinking of Van Helsing when I saw it in the theater. They just massively overdid everything in the name of spectacle, and with way too much faith in the abilities of CGI at the time. The climactic battle between the Anubis warriors and the tattoo face squad is even less convincing than robots vs the gungans in Phantom Menace. And that wacko scene with little pygmy mummies jumping out of the reeds at people like they're raptors in the lost world? Madness!
I also thought it was hilarious that they cast the actress who played Marta on Arrested Development as Anoksanamoon or however you spell it. It works in the first movie cause she just has to look smug and hot for like one scene, but in the sequel, she's supposed to be a major villain and a badass warrior and the actress just looks like a wholesome telenovela star. I thought it was funny that the movie got her and Rachel Weisz to have a big scantily clad martial arts fight, though - no wonder Rachel Weisz wouldn't come back for the third! It's pretty funny seeing a classy actress like that flipping around in a gold miniskirt while fighting with japanese weapons like sais in ancient egypt.
Also it does that "meta" thing I hate, where it just does all the same scenes from the first movie over again, but then always have a character going "WHOA, NOT THIS AGAIN!!!" to try and have their cake and eat it too. "See, us the filmmakers weren't lazily copying all the same scenes! we were just trying to be funny!"
I watched The Mummy last year and it's still good. Mummy Returns is just bad. I'm curious to watch the widely hated third movie (Curse of the Dragon Emperor or whatever, not Scorpion King)- as long as it doesn't have that snotty kid in it doing the worst english accent this side of dick van dyke I'm sure it's an improvement.
Another Stephen Sommers movie that's still entertaining is Deep Rising. It's slightly less good than The Mummy, but definitely a lot better than Mummy Returns/Van Helsing.
Nah the Cruise Mummy is a full on reboot, nothing to do with the Fraser Mummy series. As Wankerness said was meant to kick start a Universal Dark Universe ip but the film is so sh1t it napalmed that straight away. If you aint seen it don't bother just re watch The 1999 Mummy. Or the Hammer Christopher Lee one or the original Universal Mummy with Boris Karloff, both of those are superb old school horror films, I love both of them tooIs the Tom Cruise Mummy in the same universe?
I only watched it once in the early 2010's, I think, but remember liking it quite a bit. It's one of those movies that I feel like should've gotten more attention but went very unnoticed. I also loved Donnie Darko since seeing it in high school around that time so I liked the vibe Richard Kelly brought to it. Not sure how well it holds up, but I actually remember being impressed with Seann William Scott's performance but should rewatch it for The Rock.Speaking of which, I rarely see it mentioned, but Dwayne Johnson in Southland Tales was possibly one of the greatest displays of acting ever. His ability to swap his character, even mid sentence at times, in that film was nothing short of brilliant. Lots of other great cameos in there too.
I remember being traumatised for years after seeing it as a kid with those goddamn scarabs burrowing under peoples' skin. Pretty terrifying shit for a kid's movie, but yeah it absolutely kicks ass.I like the Fraser Mummy movies. He had big time Indy Jones vibes with the first one. Was a great, kinda spooky, action movie for the whole family. Fraser has a good way of throwing in some humor all over the place in his roles I think.